Efficient Utilization of Thermal Energy: Advanced Biomass Combustion Technologies

Dear Colleagues,

Burning biomass was the first technology that centuries ago became the basis for the development of civilization, including metallurgy and chemistry. Biomass combustion technology contributed to population growth, as it provided a large amount of energy for space heating. From the end of the 18th century, the place of biomass was taken by coal, which was later replaced by crude oil and gas. It is thanks to their extraction that the last two centuries have seen an extremely dynamic development of economy and industry worldwide. However, the widespread use of fossil fuels also comes at a price, that is, environmental changes. Recent years have seen attempts to limit the use of fossil fuels and, at the same time, extremely dynamic development in wind and solar energy. Devices for harvesting these two types of energy have become an inherent element of the modern landscape and a synonym for modern and environmentally friendly technology. Although biomass can be stored, unlike solar and wind energy, and although its resources are large and it is burned all over the world, it is not associated with modern renewable energy. The combustion of biomass is an extremely complicated process in which the phenomena of energy transport depend on chemical phenomena, and boilers together with fuel feeding systems, burners, scrapers, heat exchangers, filters and control systems are complex and advanced devices. Despite this, biomass combustion devices are associated with old and traditional technology. This is probably because they are basically a source of traditional heating and, to a very small extent, they serve the modern cogeneration of electricity and heat. It is the combined heat and power generation that has the potential to become an impulse for the development of biomass combustion. For this to happen, biomass combustion technology must solve several key problems, including dust emission, contamination of the heat transfer surface and a relatively long time to service devices using this type of fuel.
As biomass is very diverse, the development of new advanced biomass combustion systems is a task for many research and engineering teams from around the world. The topic of this Special Issue of Energies is addressed to all teams dealing with various issues in biomass combustion. The first goal of this Special Issue is to present the latest technological solutions related to biomass combustion, as well as methods for the analysis and modeling of physicochemical processes occurring at all stages. The second goal of this project is to support the development of biomass combustion techniques and to indicate the most optimal development directions, which will allow them to occupy a higher and more important place in the hierarchy of energy technologies.
The topics of research in this publication include, but are not limited to:

• Design and operation issues of various burners;
• Operation and design of boilers;
• Boilers with a fixed grate;
• Boilers with a movable grate;
• Fluidized bed boilers;
• Processes of the pyrolysis and gasification of biomass;
• Boilers and heat exchangers for ORC;
• Red-hot air biomass furnace;
• Burning of biomass particles;
• Combustion of biomass pyrolysis gas;
• Deposition of dust on surfaces;
• Formation and characteristics of ash;
• Primary methods of reducing dust emissions during biomass combustion;
• Filters and electrostatic precipitators in small biomass boilers;
• Pelleting of biomass and pellet quality;
• Biomass transport systems;
• Study and modeling of pyrolysis, gasification and single-particle combustion issues;
• Research and modeling of pyrolysis, gasification and combustion of biomass in the packed bed;
• Energy potential of biomass.

Prof. Dr. Dariusz Kardaś
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.